ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 23 -- From packages on supermarket shelves to advertising received via magazines or flyers, media consumers-and the marketers who serve them-demand high quality color. In fact, consumers in today's technology driven economy expect premium color in every aspect of their lives. For print providers, a profession steeped through the years in the rigors of reproducing precise, consistent color, setting color expectations and delivering on those promises are more challenging and important than ever.
To help ensure streamlined connectivity, improved predictability and reduction of errors in the delivery of color, Kodak has created the KODAK COLORFLOW technology architecture. By seamlessly communicating, controlling and confirming color across multiple devices, COLORFLOW technology helps printers optimize color reproduction, increase efficiency, enhance quality control, improve cycle times and lower costs.
"Customers who previously may have been somewhat forgiving about color now insist on perfection every time," said David Zwang, Principal Consultant, Zwang Consulting. "Printers want solutions that acknowledge that professionals involved in developing and producing creative content don't work in isolation but are part of an end to end workflow. The challenge comes in now, for example, when decisions about color are made by a designer and customer using output from a laser printer, and the print provider is expected to match the color using a completely different technology. A technology architecture that works throughout the workflow and across multiple devices is critical to efficiently reproducing color."
Products currently enabled by COLORFLOW technology include KODAK Prepare software, the KODAK PRINERGY workflow system, the KODAK NEXPRESS 2100 and 2500 digital production color presses, the KODAK VERIS digital proofer, KODAK InSite with MATCHPRINT Virtual software and KODAK MATCHPRINT Inkjet proofers. The number of solutions enhanced by the COLORFLOW technology architecture will continually grow. The KODAK APPROVAL digital imaging system, KODAK PROFILE WIZARD software and KODAK PressProof software are among the products planned for the COLORFLOW portfolio in 2007.
"The KODAK COLORFLOW brand represents a set of technology solutions, color expertise, and operational guidelines to help streamline and simplify the process of specifying and reproducing color," said Jeff Hayzlett, Chief Marketing Officer, Kodak's Graphic Communications Group. "By taking the guesswork out of the color process, reducing the possibility of operator errors, streamlining connectivity among various devices and elevating color quality, COLORFLOW technology can help drive productivity and profitability."
To become a part of the COLORFLOW portfolio, products must meet specific criteria. These requirements ensure that KODAK solutions work seamlessly, making it much easier to deliver consistent color on different types of devices in distributed locations. Requirements include the abilities to:
- Communicate color effectively by providing correct representation and common terminology for users, and ensuring that products connect using open color standards.
- Control color such that it can be processed and delivered consistently with known tolerances relative to color specified in a device independent color space like CIE 1976 L*a*b*.
- Confirm color via implementation of a KODAK Certified Process that checks a process related to the delivery of color, proactively preventing operator errors and ensuring that the correct steps are done in the correct order with the correct data and settings to ensure the required output.
COLORFLOW technology helps print providers set correct color expectations and provide confidence that they will be met in the final output. It also allows creative professionals to determine what final printed materials will look like early in the design cycle by enabling better communication of a printer's color reproduction capabilities. Open standards enable products with COLORFLOW technology to automatically share color information with other applications.
Color control features provide the capabilities to produce consistent and accurate color across devices, and manufacture repeatable color output within the specific gamut and repeatability limits of those devices. Improved control of color reduces time spent adjusting color on individual jobs and ensures that processes repeated at different locations and times deliver consistent color. Other benefits include replacing existing color control methods with more efficient or less expensive ones, and enabling processes that are currently difficult to implement.
Certified Processes within the COLORFLOW technology platform ensure that customers have correct color expectations, and confirm that color specifications are complete and consistent. By performing automatic checks and data handoffs, Certified Processes enhance the efficiency and integrity of color verification. They ensure that defined methods have been followed, validate that the color achieved matches the requirements set, reduce mistakes caused by human error and provide quality control reports that track color performance.
"KODAK COLORFLOW technology makes it easy for us to deliver predictable color because it allows us to use the same profiles across all of our KODAK software platforms. The wide range of products with the same color architecture makes color more predictable and accurate," said Kevin Bourquin, Prepress Manger, Cyber Graphics, a prepress services company in Memphis, Tenn., serving flexible packaging converting customers around the world. "By producing consistent and accurate color, we're exceeding the color expectations of our customers while hitting the faster turnaround times they demand."